Thursday was spent packing and preparing for my departure from Shanghai. Friday started with a 5am early rise in order to make sure I had done everything and wouldn’t leave something behind. One of my programme coordinators arrived at 8am to help me out of my apartment with all my bags, and into the taxi to Pudong International Airport. My flight to Moscow (where I had to change) was delayed by an hour due to congestion in the airport. I did not mind this as it just reduced the time I would have to wait in Moscow airport from 12 hours to 11! GLAD. My flight from Pudong took 9.5 hours and seemed to last forever. I was sat next to a very friendly Italian named Federico, who had worked in Shanghai for 5 years. He said he thought that Europe might seem bland and dull to me after the fast paced frantic lifestyle in Shanghai. He said that whilst Italy is his city and he loves it, he tires of it very quickly there nowadays, which we both thought was a bit sad. When we finally arrived in Russia, we exchanged business cards and I promised that I would get in touch next time I am in Shanghai.
In Moscow airport, security took around an hour, I noticed that 2 Chinese men had attained a Russian transit visa and were escorted by Russian security to the hotel in small bus, with no other passengers, it all seemed a bit underhand to me and I was glad that I didn’t bother booking my 12 hour stay at the airport hotel!
My glamorous alternative however, was to read my book on the seats outside a Chanel kiosk, where I eventually fell asleep for a few hours, only to be woken by a barking dog in a little hoodie, a screaming baby who was scared by the dog and then even worse than this, I was awoken by two drunk Russian couples ‘discretely’ pouring what smelt like battery acid into small bottles of Coca Cola. The potent smell lingered for so long that I had to just get up and find somewhere else to rest my weary head!
It was lucky I did move, however, because it turned out that I was in the wrong terminal! It was so difficult to realize this information though, as nobody speaks English here and if I protest that I am English, they muster, ‘You look Russian’ and carry on speaking to me in Russian. Awesome.
So now, I am sat in a very chilly café, that is playing Russian trance music and I had to make the decision between borsch, a few other Russian delicacies or pancakes with ‘borscht looking jam’. I am also feeling majorly envious, because it’s so cold, and the stereotype Russian men, sat in this café are actually wearing big fur coats!
Later…
I managed some sleep in the trance café amazingly. My flight to London was so much better than my flight to Russia, much shorter for a start but also I had a fun row to myself again, which was just what I needed, I was exhausted. Thankfully my luggage and I arrived into London in one piece and I managed to spend Saturday afternnon and the first half of Mothers day with my amazing family!
(pics)
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